How Andrew Johns came to be one of Luke Brooks’ biggest fans

It was this time last year, going into Friday Night Football in round three, and the Wests Tigers were hosting Parramatta at Leichhardt Oval.

Channel Nine’s Wide World of Sports team were gathered around their truck just outside the ground having dinner around 5pm _ and Andrew Johns was already up on his toes in anticipation.

Now this was still two-and-a-half hours before kick-off to the main game.

But Joey was all excited about this young halfback who was playing under 20s for the Tigers that night.

My brother Steve was recalling this story to me yesterday ahead of tonight’s big game between the Tigers and the Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium.

Steve is the head of sport at Channel Nine and he has been working with Johns for more than a decade now on the football coverage.

He says the halfback of the century takes an interest in the under 20s like any good NRL talent scout.

And while Johns was having dinner that night at Leichhardt he was talking about this kid called Luke Brooks, and how he was the one they all should be watching out for.

And that night, Steve said, Johns cut short his dinner so he could go and watch the young Tiger warm up.

It’s like Johns does when Cooper Cronk is playing, or when the Manly halves Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran are warming up, or Johnathan Thurston.

Remember, this was long before the young Tigers protégé had become the most talked about rookie in the NRL.

Long before the rest of us were talking Brooks up as “the next Joey”.

This is the story behind the story, how all this “next Joey” talk first started.

Johns had first spotted Brooks playing schoolboy football for Holy Cross Ryde _ and while almost everyone at the Tigers already knew what a special talent the teenager was by that stage, Johns was one of the first from outside the club to jump on board the Brooks bandwagon.

I remember standing at the centre of the Leichhardt stand that night where all the Nine cameras are pointed down towards the playing field _ and Johns was standing there on his own watching the under 20s, and marvelling at Brooks.

The body shape, the big arse … then you watch Brooks play footy and the similarities with Johns’ game are uncanny.

It’s not that anyone wants to put unrealistic expectations on this kid, it’s just how else would you describe him?

You even look at them and there’s a resemblance, like they could pass as brothers.

Robbie Farah is like everyone else at the Tigers today, in that he is careful not to heap too much expectation on this 19-year-old.

But even Farah concedes that when he was renegotiating his last contract Luke Brooks was a big part of the reason he decided to stay.

This was back in 2011, Farah told us yesterday, when Tim Sheens was still in charge and Brooks would have been 16 at the time.

And Sheens was using the unknown high school kid as bait to keep the first grade skipper in the Tigers’ colours.

You’ll remember Farah had offers coming at him from everywhere back then.

“I’d heard about him when he was in the SG Ball squad and Sheensie at the time told me about the two young halves we had coming through, Brooks and (Mitchell) Moses, and he knew potentially they were going to be really good players,” Farah recalled.

“At that time I was just about to come off contract at the club and obviously it’s no secret that we have struggled in the halfback department and one of my biggest concerns was making sure we had a halfback.

“And Sheensie assured me that it wouldn’t be too long before he would be up there playing first grade.”

In fact, it was only the struggles the Tigers had last year with the second tier salary cap that delayed Brooks’ debut until round 24.

But when he finally arrived, it was with a bang.

Man of the match in his first top grade game against the Dragons.

A star was born.

And while he took a step back in round one this year, when he missed eight tackles in the 44-24 defeat to the Dragons, he was back up and at them last week against the Titans with a starring performance on the Gold Coast.

But there’s no doubt tonight against the Rabbitohs will be another step up when Brooks comes up against the biggest pack in the competition and those Burgess brothers.

Farah knows there is going to be good weeks and a few bad ones ahead for the Tigers this year as they try and re-establish themselves as premiership contenders.

And with Benji gone, Brooks is now the player all the media wants a piece of.

But if Farah had his way he would just ask that everyone gives the kid time to develop.

He says experience has taught him that talent is not always a guarantee to success in the NRL.

“I think the weight of expectation can get the better of some of them,” Farah explained.

“You’ve seen it in the past whether it be a young kid coming through getting wraps or someone making a big money move to another club.

“You know, these things come with expectation and when you are being compared to other players … we are talking about a 19 year old kid here and it does become hard to handle and some players struggle with that.

“That’s why I am worried about all the comparisons that Brooksie has been getting.

“I just think it is unfair on the kid.

“You are trying to compare a playing who has played three first grade games to an Immortal of the game.

“You know, it is a big ask and a lot of expectation.

“We all have to give him time to develop and time to forge out his own career.”

Just as Johns did back when he was being compared to the champions of his past.

You just wonder if in years to come we will be comparing the superstar kid of tomorrow to Luke Brooks of today.

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